Travels with Children

On a beautiful November day (and by beautiful I mean 40 degrees with no wind), the kids and I headed to the Linden Hills station on the west side of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis to ride the “Holly Trolley” with Santa Claus.  We’ve ridden the Como-Harriet Streetcar before, but it was fun to see it decorated with lights and garland.  Carolers greeted us as we boarded the trolley and dropped in our real trolley tokens, and Ebenezer Scrooge was there as well.  Santa wandered up and down the trolley car along the ride, offering to sit with the kids or pose for a picture and handing out candy canes to the children on board.

Unlike the regular-season trolley rides which include a history lesson, the Holly Trolley is merely for fun and goes up the line past Lakewood Cemetery, back past the station to the garage, and then returning to the station.   The ride is short but festive.

After the ride, the kids wanted to watch for a while longer, so we stood by the fired that volunteers had built and watch the trolley come and go a few more times.  The volunteers are knowledgeable about the trolley and its history and answered the kids’ questions about how the track switches work, how many stations are left in Minneapolis, and so on.

The Holly Trolley was a just-right ride for the kids.  It will be running today and next weekend as well, so if you want a chance to ride with Santa, head down there!

I first visited Hermann Monument, or “Herman the German” when on a trip with my grandma and cousin, following the Laura Ingalls Wilder trail through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa.  (I also remember having my very-first Chicken McNuggets at the McDonalds in New Ulm, for what that’s worth!)

Climbing up Hermann’s spiral staircase to the interior lookout area affords a colorful view of New Ulm below, as the windows on that level are made of various-colored glass panes.  Going higher to the small top overlook gives even a better view.

Hermann stands guard atop “the hill,” or Minnesota River bluff, in New Ulm.  From an early age, my kids loved to see him and announced that “if a guy with a sword is chasing you, you should always, always run away.”

Now they ask to go up every year.  I reserve the Hermann trips for days when my husband can go up with them, for I’ve become fearful of heights lately.

This is the back of Hermann. Notice the three viewing levels:  the low one by the lions, the windows above, and the crow’s nest just below the actual statue.

This photo of New Ulm was taken from the lion level, as far as I dared go up this last trip.

The spiral staircase goes up to the window level, and then a little ladder-staircase goes up to the top from there.

And as for the history of Hermann and why he’s guarding New Ulm . . .

New Ulm has a strong German heritage. Many of the businesses in town reflect that: Gutentag Haus, Treasure Haus, Marktplatz Mall, and so on. When the clinic was remodeled recently, directional signs were installed in English, Spanish, and German. Downtown, a permanent display of old German flags is mounted to one of the building walls, and the Glockenspiel rings out several times a day.

For more travel photos, please head over to DeliciousBaby and see this week’s offerings!

I own a lot of travel books, but most of them I use as references when we’re looking for a new place to visit.  It’s rare that I buy a book and then read it from cover to cover.  A few weeks ago, however, I head WCCO Radio’s Eric Eskola promote a new book by his wife, Cathy Wurzer, and it sounded like something I would really enjoy.  I treated myself and ordered it that very day.

What a delightful book!  Tales of the Road: Highway 61 is part history lesson, part travel guide.  In short, 1-2 page segments accompanied by photos old and new, it describes landmarks, businesses, and ghost towns along Highway 61, which runs along Minnesota’s entire eastern border.  Some of these sites remain, and others are long gone.

I was saddened that I had missed seeing Two Harbors High School overlooking the town by only a few months.  I was disappointed that I hadn’t had the book before my recent drive up the North Shore, because there were things along the way that I missed.  I learned more about places I’ve visited, like Gooseberry Falls State Park and Split Rock Lighthouse.  And I added a lot of new entries to my “places to see” list.

Published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, this book is a delight from start to finish, providing a glimpse into Minnesota’s past along one of its earliest and most important roads.

When we’re looking for good, free fun, we often head to our local library. Whether for story time, the summer reading program, or just to get more books to read, it’s a favorite destination. I feel fortunate that our libary is only a few miles away and I can oblige the kids when they ask to go. When I was growing up in North Dakota, the library in Grand Forks was an hour away, and although it was always a stop when we were in town, it wasn’t somewhere we’d go unless we were already in Grand Forks.

A beautiful thing about libraries is that you can go to any one you want. Even if you can’t check out books, you can go in with your kids and browse, play with the puzzles and games, see the fish, use a computer, look at the artwork, and . . . well, you get the idea.

I’ve written about the St. Paul Central Library before, as well as the libraries in Mankato and Springfield, Minnesota. Here are some other libraries we visited this summer.

Gaylord (MN) Public Library: Recently opened in a renovated building down the street from its old location, the new Gaylord Library is beautiful. It’s warm and welcoming, with artwork from local artists, coffee brewing for the adults, and a raised story area and special computer station for the kids.

Morgan (MN) Public Library: We enjoyed a special program at the Morgan Library, a concert by folk singer Dennis Warner, where the kids in the audience enjoyed the performance so much that they just sat there at the end, not moving until we convinced Dennis to perform an encore. The special programs that go along with summer reading programs are great for kids.

New Ulm (MN) Public Library: Here we were treated to a reading and book signing by author Jill Kalz, whose book Farmer Cap received a Minnesota Book Awards reader’s choice award. It was a delight to watch the children as they tried to guess exactly what it was that eccentric Farmer Cap was growing in his field. The children’s area at the New Ulm library was moved and expanded a few years ago, and is an inviting place for kids to visit.

Excelsior (MN) Public Library: In Excelsior, we needed the library for information. We wanted to ride on the Excelsior Streetcar, but we didn’t know where to board. The reference librarian helped us then, as well as on our return when we decided we might like to ride the local steamboat. Libraries are information sources even if you’re not there to check out books.

What interesting things have you done at your local library? Do you ever visit other libraries just for fun?

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I hadn’t left the house since Monday except for one meeting and one preschool pickup, so with hubby still in the field working long hours, I asked his blessing to take the kids to St. Paul. On our agenda: three “boo” activities.

I had read about the ZooBoo event at St. Paul’s Como Zoo, and when researching it as an outing, I came across a post at minnmoms.com about Grand Avenue’s Boo Bash. At the bottom of the Grand Avenue brochure, Boo-ology at the Science Museum of Minnesota was mentioned. All three were come-in-costume, trick-or-treat activities, and the times actually looked workable: Boo Bash from 10-2, Boo-ology from 1-4, and ZooBoo from 4:30-7:30.

After supper last night, we scrambled for costumes so we’d be ready bright and early for the two-hour drive to St. Paul. The kids were up before our alarms went off, so apparently they were looking forward to the day. I had in the car a caped person of some sort, a red M&M (ironic since he’s allergic to peanuts and can’t eat M&M’s), a princess (likely Cinderella), and a cow (or calf, as her older brothers liked to specify). I was either a scarecrow or the cow’s farmer, depending on who looked at me. (Raiding hubby’s closet was a last-minute move, and it actually worked out pretty well.)

We got to the parking garage at Victoria and Grand just after 10:00 and headed to the Red Balloon Bookshop, where author Rick Chrustowski would be reading from his new book, Big Brown Bat, at 10:30. What a delight! He not only read from the book, but answered audience questions about his start in illustrating, why he writes children’s books, and how he does his drawings, but did a drawing of a bat on the spot and gave it away to one of the children. He was entertaining to watch and listen to, and it was a great start to our day.

Then we headed east down Grand Avenue, stopping in businesses that had trick-or-treating signs. Segments of the route were quite crowded, and I was glad we had decided to leave the stroller in the car. Not that keeping four kids corralled and remembering sidewalk courtesy was easy, but the stroller would definitely have complicated things. We ended up walking as far as Hamline Street before heading back on the other side. I don’t know exactly how far that is, but the round-trip took us 3 1/2 hours. At 60 degrees and sunny, it was a beautiful day for a walk.

Buckled into carseats and the go-ahead given to eat a few treats, we wound our way down Summit Avenue to the Science Museum, where there were several activities and treat stations in the entrance area. Inside the museum galleries, they weren’t handing out treats like they had last year at the Science Center of Iowa, but they had some good activities going on. The kids participated in a costume contest, and there was a very entertaining “Spooky but not Scary” magic show that garnered a lot of smiles and laughter from both the kids and adults in the audience.

At 4:00, we moved toward the parking lot for the trip to Como Zoo. We drove through the Como Parkand past the zoo, but instead of parking far away and walking to the zoo, we kept going toward the fairgrounds to the free park-and-ride lot. There we were met with a line of about 150 people waiting to board school buses. I quickly calculated the number of buses we had already met en route, the fact that it was just 4:30 and the crowd would continue to grow, and the price of admission, and broke the news to the kids that we were going to change our plans. I’ll brave a lot, but a big crowd of people, most in costume; four kids and one set of adult eyes and hands; and darkness not far off were enough for me to back out. Sure, I went to the state fair with the kids and we did fine, but that was in broad daylight.

I broke the news to the kids, and we were all disappointed, but we agreed that we’d already done two things today that were a lot of fun. The promise of supper in the immediate future helped to curb their disappointment.

By the time we got home, three of the four were asleep and ready to drop into bed. (I actually really enjoy it when that happens; it’s so sweet to carry them in the house half-asleep and tuck them right in.) I told my youngest, who was awake, “You were a good little cow today,” to which she replied, “Trick or treat!” A treat it was indeed to spend such a nice day, once again, with my little ones.

Did I make the right decision in not going to the zoo? Have you done any fun Halloween-before-Halloween activities with your kids?

One thing I enjoy about traveling is seeing the roadside oddities that have sprung up.  As a child, it was  exciting to see the giant buffalo in Jamestown, ND, or the cow, Salem Sue, in New Salem, ND, or even the prairie chicken in Rothsay, MN.  I’ve seen the twine ball in Darwin, MN, the snowmobiling turtle in Bottineau, ND, the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN, and of course, Paul Bunyan and Babe in Bemidji, MN.  Quirky as these roadside giants may be, there’s something endearing about them.  As a kids, it’s exciting just to see things literally larger than life.  And as an adult, it makes me wonder, “Who thought of this, and saw it through to completion? And how many people have come to see it?”

So it was that we were in Eveleth, Minnesota, on the “Iron Range.”  I had done my homework, and had a list of museums and attractions, complete with their hours of operation and admission prices, just in case we had a little free time.

And we did.

We turned off the main road and headed toward downtown Eveleth.  We had the GPS turned on, but we didn’t need it because there were signs pointing the way, the way to . . . the world’s largest hockey stick!

Yes, it was big.  A real-life, honest-to-goodness, Christian Brothers hockey stick, mounted on a stand on a street corner in downtown Eveleth.

I got out of the car to take a picture, standing across the street to get the whole thing in my camera window.  The kids, inside the car, ooohed and ahhhed about it, and then came their question.  (Kids are always thinking, aren’t they?)  IS THAT THE WORLD’S LARGEST PUCK TOO?

Do you have a favorite roadside attraction? Do you think big concrete (and wood) things are fun, or just plain strange?

I can’t resist a few more fall photos, as the leaves are now falling fast and soon we’ll have gray and white surrounding us instead of red, yellow, and orange. We had some great fall trips around Minnesota this year, and saw a lot of beauty on the backroads.

While we were waiting for our tour at Mystery Cave, the kids played a game of hide-and-seek in the park.

This scene near Mystery Cave was beautiful, with the field already harvested, and the farm in the background.

This is the creek that runs past (and sometimes into) Mystery Cave.

And here’s the view of the river from the Historic Forestville Carnegie bridge.

To see more travel photos, head over to DeliciousBaby and check out Photo Friday.

Did you see any great fall colors this year? Is it still pretty where you are, or have the leaves all fallen off by now?

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I don’t pretend to be an expert on caves. In fact, my last cave tour was when I was several months pregnant with my fourth child, so the tight squeezes and flights of stairs made the experience less than enjoyable for me.

And so, it hadn’t even entered my mind to take my kids on a cave tour on our latest outing. We had a historic site on our minds, and it wasn’t until we got there that we realized that we were just a few miles from Minnesota’s Mystery Cave.

Being a firm believer in taking advantage of things while we’re there rather than making a 3.5 hour return trip another day, I decided to at least inquire about the cave tour. The man at the Forestville historical site said it was indeed kid-friendly, and when I saw the part about putting your child in a stroller instead of a backpack carrier, I was sold.

The only problem was that I didn’t have a stroller along. We decided to give it a try anyway, and we headed through the countryside to the Mystery Cave visitor’s center, a new building with exhibits, a gift shop, restrooms, and information counter. I purchased our tickets, and the park ranger asked if we had jackets along since the cave is 49 degrees year-round. Oops. No jackets on this nice fall day. I was eyeing up the sweatshirts in the gift shop when she offered us official Mystery Cave loaner jackets, in sizes that fit each of us perfectly.

We had to wait about 30 minutes before the start of the tour, but that gave us the kids some time to run off excess energy. They jumped in the leaves, watched the stream under a bridge, and played hide-and-seek behind trees.

I went through the rules with the kids: No eating. No drinking. Use the bathroom before the tour starts. NO TOUCHING ANYTHING!

Then it was time for our tour. Along with our group of five, there were twelve others on the tour, including four other kids. The ranger offered a stroller to another family with little ones, and when they declined, I gladly accepted the offer. One less kid to hang onto is a benefit, especially when you’re outnumbered four-to-one.

Inside the cave, the kids paid close attention to the guide. I was amazed at the cave terminology they had learned from PBS’s Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman and their TripFlix DVD. “Look! There’s a column, Mom!” “What’s the biggest dome in this cave?” Although I cringed every time the boys raised their hands, their questions were right on target. (Relevant questions are sometimes hard to get from early-elementary-aged kids.)

Inside the cave, there were nicely paved paths and only one area with a low ceiling. There was just one spot where we had to park the stroller briefly. We saw three bats (two asleep, one flying), some raccoon tracks, a lot of stalactites and cave bacon, and some beautiful pools of water. We learned that there are hundreds of caves in Fillmore County alone, and that Mystery Cave is the largest cave in Minnesota.

The hour-long tour went by very quickly, and none of the kids had fits when the guide turned off all the lights and we were in absolute darkness.

When we got out of the cave, my kindergartner tried to claim that he wasn’t impressed by it, and that the bats were the only part he enjoyed. But guess what he’s going to talk about at Show and Tell tomorrow?

If your kids are interested in caves, Mystery Cave is a good place to start. The terrain is quite level, and there aren’t any scary ledges that they can fall off, or holes that they can fall into. Still, it’s a real cave, and one they’ll enjoy telling their friends about.

Have you taken your kids to a cave yet? What was their favorite part?

On a recent trip to Minnesota’s Iron Range, we stopped at several mine overlooks, including the Wacootah Overlook near Mountain Iron.  Not only could we see for miles,

with beautiful fall colors,

but the mine views were very interesting.

See how small the trucks look?

They’re not small trucks by any means.

This is another mine, several miles away.

This is the taconite processing factory, I guess. We were given souvenir taconite pellets at one of the visitor centers we went to.

This was a part of our state I hadn’t seen before, and it was very interesting to see.

If you’d like to see more travel photos, head to DeliciousBaby for Photo Friday.

We made our fourth annual trip to the Amaze’n Farmyard this summer, and this time we took a grandma, a grandpa, two aunts, and five cousins.  The only problem with the trip was that it was too short.

They’re open for a few more weekends this fall, so if you need a day trip from St. Cloud, the Twin Cities, or elsewhere, keep them in mind.  There are so many different things to do that everyone can find something they enjoy.

For all the details, read my previous post on The Amaze’n Farmyard on this site, or see my new post on The Amaze’n Farmyard at Uptake.com.

Minnesota parents–Are you doing anything fun with your kids while they’re off school Thursday and Friday?  Parents in other states–What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids when they have a fall break from school?